Just Run
by Fangnatic14
Summary: Max had recently become and orphan when she found her parents murdered in the kitchen and when she gets adopted, she has no intention to stay with that family. She hears everybody elses stories, and begins to open up to them. Same author as PRESENT DAY!
1. Chapter 1

I remember every excruciating detail about how my parents were murdered. Heck, I was _there_ on Halloween night, two months ago. I was lying on my back and throwing a ball toward the ceiling when I heard a thump downstairs in the kitchen. A few seconds later, I heard another thump. I sat, frozen on the edge of my bed.

"Mom?" I called, slowly starting to get up and grab a backpack so I could throw some things into it.

"Max! Don-" Her voice was cut off. I had three shirts, a pair of shorts, and two pairs of jeans. I snatched up my phone and wallet and threw them in with the clothes before zipping up the backpack and putting it on. I quietly snuck out of my room and to the top of the stairs. The door was only about three yards away from the bottom and it was wide open. I could _easily_ get past the kitchen.

I slid down the railing, knowing that the stairs would creak, and landed silently on the balls of my feet. I was halfway to the door when my curiosity got the best of me. I looked through the archway to the kitchen and saw a man with his back toward me, crouched over. I gasped and then quickly threw my hand over my mouth. It was too late though; the murderer stepped away from my parents and stared at me. I looked from his sinister eyes to my parents. There were steak knives punctured into the left side of their chest, where their hearts were. They were propped up against the island counter, leaning against each other. They each had a smile carved into their face like a Jack-O-Lantern. I felt tears burning my eyes before I looked back at the murderer.

"Happy Halloween."


	2. Chapter 2

_Run!_ That's what my mind was telling me. _Just run!_ But I was so shocked that all I could do was stand there. Once the murderer started moving toward me, the adrenaline kicked in. I grabbed a framed photo of my family as I bolted out the door. The murderer easily gained on me and I was breathing heavily as I raced down the sidewalk. I couldn't scream for help, I was still too shocked. I glanced back at him and he was inches behind me. My legs pumped faster and I was crying and sweating. You're probably thinking, _it's Halloween night_! There has to be _someone_ trick-or-treating. Well, the answer was no, there wasn't. It was almost midnight. All the kids were in bed.

Then I felt his knife drag down my left arm from my shoulder to my elbow. It didn't hurt as of now but when I got to where I was going, _then_ I'd feel the pain. I took four more long strides before stopping. This guy was a _murderer_; he could have done better than just my arm. Not that I _wanted_ him to. I turned around and saw him lying flat on the ground. I noticed that there was a grate there. He _tripped_ on it! I burst out laughing. But when he grunted and looked up at me, I started running again. I passed six more blocks without stopping _or_ with him in sight before crossing the street to my destination: _The Florence Town Orphanage._

I opened the door and rushed inside. Luckily this place was 24 hours. I closed my eyes, dropped my backpack, and slid my back down the door, crying. I looked back at the family photo which was taken during my Quinceañera on August 2, 2009. I just turned sixteen a little over two months ago. I looked up, holding the picture to my chest and gasping for air, and I saw the secretary lady standing up and looking over her desk. She had to be like . . .eighty.

"Darling, are you all right?" She asked in a somewhat gravelly voice.

"If there are locks on the windows and doors, I would suggest using them." I took another lungful of air and wiped the sweat off my forehead.

"Well that can wait. We need to fix up your arm sweetheart." I looked down at my arm and as soon as I did, it started hurting. Damn brain for making it hurt. The secretary grabbed a first aid kit and knelt by my side. She started reaching toward it with a disinfectant wipe but I pushed her hand away.

"You don't understand. _This_ can wait." I pointed to my arm. "You just need to get everything locked up. _Please_." She slowly nodded and started to lock up all the windows and doors. I started running the disinectant wipe over my arm. It felt nice because the warm and caked on blood was removed, but it hurt like hell because of the actual gash. I got a good look around the place. There were two flights of stairs – one on either side of the desk – the top floor wasn't really a floor, it was more like a balcony that went around the edge of the wall. Like, there was _no _center to the ceiling/floor. I leaned a little forward and looked to the right, through an archway. It was like an entertainment room or something. There was a decent sized TV, three computers, a Wii, and a Play Station 3. This place was pretty nice. Then I looked to my left and saw some round tables with about four chairs placed arounf each one through _another_ archway. I liked it though, it made the orphanage more . . . _open_.

The last thing I noticed were two bathrooms behind the desk, before the secretary came back over to me.

"Well, I don't know what that was about but it doesn't matter now." She continued looking at my arm. "This cut is pretty deep. I'll wrap it up for now but in the morning, your getting stitches. What happened to you anyway? Are you an abused child, running away from home?"

"No, I'm not." I answered. She gently wrapped the gauz around my upper arm. "My parents were just killed like, less than a half hour ago." I was still too shocked to actually comprehend what was going on.

"Oh dear. That's terrible. I'll tell you what, there's an empty bottom bunk upstairs in room number One. Go on up and get some rest. I'll register you as a resident here tomorrow and I'll call the police now. Do you live on this street?"

"Yeah. I do. Um, what about the other kids in room One? Won't it be weird if I just show up?" I stood up and grabbed my backpack, slinging it over my shoulder. She walked me over to the desk and grabbed a sticky note.

"What's your name?"

"Max." I answered simply. She scribbled something down on it and handed it to me. It read, _I let her in. Don't worry. She had a rough night so don't ask questions. Her name is Max. _I started up the stairs and then lookeed back at her.

"What's _your_ name?" I asked.

"Brigid." She smiled.

"Thank you . . . Brigid."


	3. Chapter 3

I woke up to a little kid jumping up and down on my bed near my feet.

"What're you _doing_?" I asked him tiredly.

"Brigid told me to get you up so you could get your stitches. I'm gonna come with you cuz I don't want you to get scared." He stopped bouncing and sat down on the edge of my bed. "I'm Ari. The note says that you're Max. Isn't that a guys name?"

"It _can_ be." I told him and looked around. I sighed when I realized that what happened last night was real.

"You look a lot like my older sister." Ari said happily. "Our parents died in a car crash after she moved out and she let me live with her. But then she didn't have money to keep her apartment and she had to bring me here. I don't know where she is now." His voice got sadder and sadder as he told me his story. "Let's go now. I can see your cut through your bandage." He grabbed my hand and yanked me out of bed and then dragged me down the stairs to Brigid. I yawned and rubbed my eyes. Brigid saw me and laughed.

"Are you ready to go?" She asked.

"Yeah. But what about the other kids?" I gesturerd to two little boys running past me with toy airplanes in their hands.

"We've got another person here that helps. Let's go."

When we got to the doctor's, every patient and secretary stared at me, knowing what happened to my parents. They knew because it was showing on the local news channel. I walked closer to the small TV and turned up the volume. The camera was focused on a reporter that was standing in front of my house.

"I'm here at 219 Orange Grove Lane where our best vet, Valencia Batchelder and her husband, a scientist that was helping find a cure to cancer, Jeb Batchelder were murdered at about midnight last night." I watched as two body bags were being rolled in to an emergency vehicle. I felt a tear rolled down my face, but I wiped it away quickly. My dad always told me to be strong, not to let other people think you're the weak link. "They have a daughter, Maximum Batchelder, who has brought herself to the orphanage down the street. Nobody knows who the killer is . . ." I turned the volume back down when I felt Ari take my hand. I smiled at him and walked down the hall to get my stitches.

* * *

I stared at my arm which was red and puffy with black stitches. I never really knew that I was scared of needles until they brought that thing in. I had twelve stitches now. I had asked Brigid to take me by Lowe's. When I got there, I went straight to the flower section. I bought my parents favorite flowers. Lilies for my mom and Irises for my dad. When we got back to the orphanage, I set them in the one window of my bedroom. Well, my bedroom plus three other people. Brigid rushed upstairs.

"Max, there's someone here to see you." She let the room without telling me who it was. I came down the stairs to see a man in a police uniforn and in his mid thirties smiling at me.

"Uncle Reilly!" I ran to him and gave him a hug. He wasn't really my uncle, but he was my dad's best friend. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, I was helping some of the guys back at your house, and I thought 'Hey, maybe I could bring Max some things down at the orphanage.' So after they checked what I picked out for clues, they didn't find any, they said I could bring them here." He set a large paper bag on the desk. I pulled out three picture books, my iPod, and then my baby blanket that my mom knitted while she was pregnant with me. I still snuggled with it when I had troubles sleeping.

"I'll be able to bring more as the case goes on but this was all I was allowed to bring for now." He explained.

"Thanks Uncle Reilly." I hugged him one more time.

"I gotta get back now. They only gave me ten minutes off. I'll see you later." I watched as he left and then I brought everything upstairs. I looked through all three picture books before I realized it was time for dinner. Ari and a few of his friends sat down next to me. I didn't really have other friends so I listened to them make up a story. When one person finished a sentence, someone else would add on the next one. And, let me tell you, it was the weirdest story of my _life_. But they were cute and I had a soft spot for little kids.

* * *

Two months passed quickly and my Uncle Reilly had kept all of my (and my parents') belongings at his house since we had no room at the orphanage. My house was for sale but I didn't think it would get many offers. People are so _picky_ these days! "Oh I don't want to buy that, people were _killed_ there." Every night I'd look through the picture books and reminisce about those times. And every day I'd water the flowers and watch them grow. One day though, changed all of that.

"We have visitors!" I heard Brigid call from downstairs. I got up and opened the door and then laid back down in my bed so I could read my book. You see, whenever we had visitors, Brigid would let them look around to see what kids liked doing and how they acted while she did a background check on the family. Then, the family would interview the kid to see if they really wanted to adopt them. I've seen it happen a lot, it just hasn't happened to me. Example, I was the only one left in room number One. I kept glancing up, hoping that someone would come in here. I was in _way_ over my head though. I saw someone walk by before backing up and looking in. I kept reading my book but set it down quickly when I felt the stranger's eyes boring in to me.

"Take a picture, it'll last longer." I snapped. He smirked and looked me up and down. Then he turned his head toward the door.

"Hey mom. Let's get this one! Finally get a girlfriend for Iggy." He called.

"Hey!" I heard someone say defensively. I looked at the dark haired guy with disgust.

"I'm not a _dog_." I told him. "Now . . . go look somewhere else." I stood up and brushed past him on my way out. I went in to the entertainment room and lounged on the couch. He followed me in. "Go ahead, look around. There are a lot of kids here who want to be adopted." I gestured to the little kids playing with trucks and the kids playing on the Wii. When I turned back around, the kid was gone. Then I felt Brigid's hand on my shoulder.

"Max, it's time for your interview." She told me.

"I can't believe this." I muttered. Then I made my way to the office.

**So . . . tell me what you think. The next chapter won't be up for a few more days cuz I'm working on two other stories right now. Yeah . . . I'm stupid for starting new one's. Review please! Thanks :D**


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry I haven't updated in so long. I was on vacation for a while and when I got back, I updated one of my other stories. Then these past few days (or longer, I lost track) I've been heping my sister move into her apartment. There's gonna be a note at the bottom that's VERY IMPORTANT! So make sure you read it. :D**

I sat on one side of a table and everyone else sat on the on the other side. And there were a lot of other people when I say "everyone". There were two little blond kids – a boy and a girl – a somewhat older girl with dark skin, the dark haired kid that likes to piss me off, another blond guy that looked about the same age, and a lady that looked like she was the older blond guy's mom.

"Why don't you introduce yourselves?" The lady said after a few moments of silence.

"I'm Angel," said the youngest girl, "and this is my twin brother Gazzy. We're eight." She said happily. I smiled at them briefly, not liking this situation _at all_. The dark skinned girl introduced herself as Nudge and all I could hope was that these weren't their actual names. That'd be pretty sad. She also told me her favorite – color, band, nailpolish, shirt, hairstyle – it took a lot to get her to be quiet. The mom of the older blond kid introduced hereself as Shelly. The blond kid was Iggy and the other guy's name was Fang. I burst out laughing when he said it.

"Why are you laughing?" He asked.

"_Their_ nicknames make sense," I gestured to Gazzy and Nudge, "him because I'm guessing he's pretty gassy and her because you need to nudge her to be quiet." I saw Iggy snicker. "But your name, _Fang_, doesn't make sense." It really didn't. He flashed a grin at me which no one else saw and, I don't know what happened, but my breath caught.

"Does it make sense _now?_" I blushed out of humilty and gave him the dirtiest glare I could muster. Then he went back to looking completely bored. I rolled my eyes.

"So, Max," Shelly began, "do you go to public school?"

"Yeah." I answered simply.

"Well that explains it." Fang said. Shelly nodded in agreement. I gave them a questioning look but didn't get any answer. We talked for a while, I can't really remember what it was about. I just know I gave them short answers, hoping that they saw I wasn't enjoying this. I was afraid that if I got a new family, I would forget about my old one. My _real_ one.

* * *

Brigid sent me back up to my room while her and Shelly talked, and Fang actually had the nerve to follow me. As soon as we got into my room, I spun around to face him. I was about to yell at him but he spoke first.

"Do you think my bed is comfortable?" He asked, so I immediately slapped him across the face.

"I don't care _how_ comfortable your bed is." I informed him. "I will _never_ be in it."

"I didn't mean like _that_. The bed that you've been staying in here, that used to be _my_ bed. Shelly adopted me last year. And by the way, I have a girlfriend so you don't need to worry about me making a move."

"Whatever." I sat down on my bed and stuck my headphone into my ear. Fang sat next to me and grabbed the other headphone.

"Linkin Park?" He asked in surprise.

"I don't like those pansy bands." I told him. "Why did you follow me in here anyway?" Fang shrugged and stared straight ahead.

"These next few lines coming up," he said, "listen carefully and remember them." I knew what lines were coming up, but I still listened as he instructed.

_Don't be afraid  
I've taken my beating  
I've shed but I made_

I'm strong on the surface  
Not all the way through  
I've never been perfect  
But neither have you

He took the headphone out of his ear and started toward the door. When he was gone, I stopped the music, backed it up, and listened to it once more to be sure I'd remember. Then I turned my iPod off and set it on the windowsill with my flowers. I let out a long sigh and closed my eyes, preparing myself for whatever happened next. I looked out the window and took in the view just in case this was the last time I'd be there. I was shocked when I felt someone hug me from behind. I looked over my shoulder and laughed.

"Ari, what are you doing?" I turned around and picked him up, holding him on my hip. He buried his face in my shoulder and held on to my hair. "What's going on?" I asked him with my smile starting to fade. He started to cry, I could feel his tears soak through my shirt.

"I heard Brigid talking to some lady about the adoption forms." He informed me and my heart sank. Then Brigid came up as well. I stared at her anxiously, waiting to hear what the turnout was. But, you know, I didn't know how I would feel about it. I was scared of being adopted because of forgetting my family (like I said before), but I didn't want to be spending the rest of my life in the orphanage. A smile spread across her face.

"Pack your stuff, you've been adopted!" I nodded at her, signaling that I'd be down soon. It'd only take me about five minutes to say bye to Ari and pack up my things. I calmed Ari down and told him I'd visit him whenever I could and he helped me pack my backpack with what was originally in it. And I had kept all the bags that Uncle Reilly had brought some belongings in – as well as the belongings, of course – just in case this would happen. Ari was still crying when I walked out the door and climbed into Shelly's SUV. Well, at least I know _they're_ eco-friendly. I held the two pots that had my parents' flowers in them while everything else was thrown in the back. The car ride was silent except for a few occasional questions.

"So do you like shopping?" Nudge asked.

"Not particularly, no."

"What about reading?" It was Angel this time.

"Not really my thing."

"You like fireworks?"

"Too loud." I complained.

"What about video games?" asked Gazzy.

"I'm not really a violent person unless I have to be." I explained. Everyone had asked me a question except for Fang. I asked him why he hadn't asked me anything and he said that he was going to, but he didn't want to upset me. I finally talked him into just asking me already.

"How did you end up at the orphanage?" My mind immediately shut down and I wanted to shoot myself (not really) for being so curious as to what he was going to ask. But I toughened up and told him.

"My parents were murdered Halloween night. I brought myself to the orphanage with three shirts, three bottoms, my phone, and my wallet. Brigid cleaned me up, apparently gave me _your_ bed, and helped me through it. I just don't know what my parents did to get murdered. They were the most caring people I had ever known. My mom could practically bring back an animal that had been dead for a day and my dad was finding a cure to cancer. Does either of those things sound like a reason to murder somebody?" Everyone was silent and in shock, why wouldn't they be?

"Is that what the flowers are for," Angel asked timidly, "your parents?"

"Yeah. Irises are my dad's favorite and Lilies for my mom . . . Shelly, if you don't mind, could I plant these at your house?"

"Well, we have a few gardeners that take care of our house's lawn, but I assume you want those to be handled by you?" I nodded. "I thought so. There's a flower box on everyone's balcony, so you can plant them there."

"Balcony?"

"Yeah. Would you wanna be on the third floor without being able to walk outside and feel the breeze, or see the view? Trust me, you'll love your balcony and your flowers will be close to you."

"Okay . . ." _Third floor? Holy crap!_

"And you also have your bedroom set up. It's in black and white, but very modern. If you want anything different, just tell me. I'll get our designer right on it." She informed. _Designer? _I thought. _Gardeners? Either these people are insanely smart and therefore rich, or they're drug dealers. _Let's hope for the first one. I stared out the window to pass the time since everyone was done playing twenty questions. They weren't particularly close to the orphanage, but they were only a half hour away as opposed to an hour. We pulled up to a large gate and Shelly typed a code into a keypad on the side. The gate swung open and we drove through, up the dirt path.

"I hope you like our home." Shelly said kindly.

"This entire thing is your _home?_" I wasn't believing it, if you didn't catch that. "How big is it?"

"About six acres." Fang answered. I stared across the fields of fresh green grass and saw people clipping rose bushes and watering other assortments of plants. They looked up and waved at Shelly's car as we passed, like if we were royalty. It was kinda nice. It took about two four minutes to actually get to the house because the car didn't go up a straight path. The path wove through the gardens until we finally came to a stop at the front of the house.

It was amazing too. I can't really describe it except for the fact that it _was_ pretty big. It was painted between a cream and a light yellow and all the windows and doors were white. There was a porch that wrapped around the house and all the furniture outside was white as well. Everyone went inside except Iggy. I set my flowers down on the top of the car while I slipped my backpack on. Iggy grabbed the other things and he showed me to my room.

**Alright, I hope that was worth the wait (probably not). Anyway, here's the important thing. I thought of a new story idea that would involve me updating everyday. I'd still work on the stories I already have up and this story would be about my everyday life starting highschool. Of course, it would be the characters and not the people I actually know, so it would still basically be a Maximum Ride fanfiction. It'd be like a journal though, if you get what I'm saying. I wanna know what you think of the idea. So send in a review please and once more, I'm sorry I didn't update sooner! Thanks! :D**


	5. Chapter 5

My room was _HUGE_! Shelly was spot on with the description: black, white, and modern. There were a lot of square-like shapes everywhere. There was also a walk-in closet which had _way_ more space than I needed and, of course, my balcony which had more of a classical look to it. I threw my back-pack on my bed and Iggy followed me. I looked around as Iggy stood there.

"Um, dinner will be at seven." He turned and left the room.

"Well, better to plant these sooner than later." I said to myself. I went to work on planting my flowers and was done in about five to eight minutes. Realizing that it was only like five o'clock, I decided to put my clothes away. _Bad idea_, I thought to myself as I looked at my dirt-covered hands. After a few seconds, I noticed a door I hadn't seen on the way in. I pushed the door open so I could wash my hands, but honestly, I got distracted. The bathroom was like paradise to me. Well I mean, there was the standard sink and toilet, but the shower and the tub . . . oh. My. God. I actually had a Jacuzzi tub! With the little jets and everything! And the shower, I love my showers, it came from overhead, like if it were raining; and there was definitely room in my shower to make up a small dance or something. Not that I would, I can't dance. I rinsed my hands off after my shock and went back to put my clothes away. It took only three minutes to find where to put all of my stuff. Now it was 5:05. _Well, might as well break in my new tub!_

As soon as I had the water running, I checked to see if they already had towels under any of the cabinets . . . they did, as well as shampoo, conditioner, lotions, perfumes, brushes, etc., and _bubble bath._ Well, naturally I grabbed the three essentials in order of importance: the bubble bath, a towel, and the shampoo. As soon as my feet hit the water, I got in as quickly as I could. The quicker I got in, the quicker I could relax. I added the bubble bath and, let me tell you, it _bubbled_.

I didn't know how long I stayed in there until someone came to get me. It was Nudge.

"Max, it's time for dinner." She informed through the door.

"Coming!" I called back. I pulled myself out of the tub, drained it, and then dried myself off with the towel before wrapping it around my body. I threw my wet hair in to a messy bun before getting dressed and heading downstairs. Everyone was carrying a plate or bowl from the kitchen to set it in the center of the table.

"Is there anything I can help with?" I asked Shelley.

"Nope! We got everything! Thanks for offering though, Max."

"No problem." I couldn't help it, I felt rejected. I waited for everyone to sit down in their normal seats before choosing mine. Everyone started scooping food onto their plate in huge servings and passing the bowls around. I put a little food on my plate even though I was starving. They just didn't feel like family yet and I felt like I'd be hogging all of their food.

Laughter sounded around the table as our dinner finished (Iggy had grabbed the last scoop of stuffing and threw it in his mouth before Nudge could protest).

"Shelly?" Angel turned to our adoptive mother with her bright blue eyes. "Can we have game night now?" Shelly looked at her watch.

"Yes, of course we can. You guys get it set up while I clear the table." Everyone ran over to a low cabinet, except for me, and started arguing on which games to play.

"War!" Definitely Iggy.

"No, that game takes too long. How about life?" Nudge suggested this one.

"Boring!" Gazzy yelled.

"Can we play Sorry?" Angel asked. Everyone went silent and Fang told her that that was a great idea. Sucker. She ran over to the coffee table with the box, which looked huge with her holding it. She opened it up and set up the board, the pieces, and the cards while everyone chose teams. With only four players in a game, and six of us, we had to have two teams and two singles.

"I wanna be with Max!" Angel called out. I looked at her with surprise as she walked over and grabbed my hand. We sat down in front of the blue spot. Then Iggy said, "Well if Angel gets Max, then I get Gazzy. Old with young!" They sat down in front of the green spot. Fang shrugged and placed himself in front of the red and Nudge chose the last color, yellow. Fang flipped the first card, got a two, and flipped another card, choosing 12. He moved, hit my slide, and landed right in front of my start space. Unfortunately for him, I chose a one; he got kicked back to his own space. And the game began.

Ten minutes later, these were our statistics. Nudge: Two in start, two in safety; Gazzy and Iggy: One in start, one on the board close to safety, and two on home; Fang: Three in start and one barely in safety; and Angel and I: One in start, one that just moved out of start, one in safety, and one home.

Twenty minutes later, Nudge had two in safety and two home; Gazzy and Iggy had three home and one halfway around the board; poor Fang still had two in start, one halfway around the board, and on home while Angel and I had two home, one halfway around the board, and one moved out of start.

Half an hour after we started, Angel and I won, but the other three continued to play to find second and third. Nudge was one away from being second, Gazzy and Iggy almost had their last piece in safety, and Fang still had one left in start.

After five minutes, Nudge had come in second, Gazzy and Iggy in third, and Fang . . . well I think you understand that he lost. Apparently, if you won the game, you got the honors of putting it away. Everybody dispersed to get ready for bed, leaving me and Angel behind. She let out a huge yawn and I told her to head to bed since she set it up. She happily agreed and I was left to clean up.

Shelley let me borrow a long sleep shirt of hers for the night. Apparently tomorrow, we were going shopping for me; oh goody. Please note the sarcasm there. I walked out onto my balcony and sat down in a cozy chair that was calling me to it. Assuming everybody was asleep, I finally let the fact that my parents were murdered settle in and I began to silently cry. The next thing I knew, Nudge was outside asking me if I was okay and that she didn't mean to bother me, she was just telling everybody goodnight.

"It's alright." I told her.

"Are you crying about your parents?"

"Yeah, I just miss them, you know?"

"At least you don't feel like you're responsible for their death." She stated.

"What do you mean?" Now I was curious. She opened up to me and told her story. Apparently her mom was raped but didn't want to have an abortion; she was going to keep her baby. She wasn't strong enough to give birth once she went in to labor. She passed before Nudge was born and the doctors had to perform a C-section before _Nudge_ died. She felt like it was her fault that her mom died, though I don't know how. She left me alone once more and on that not-so-happy note, I fell asleep in the chair underneath the stars.

**So . . . yeah. Kind of depressing but it's not going to be very happy in the beginning. Lissa will be introduced somewhere in the next few chapters but I'm not going to make her a mean whore in this one. Think about it, everyone hates her cause she kissed Fang but if Fang came to _your_ school, you know you'd probably fall for him too. Anyway, that was the next chapter of this story and I hope you enjoyed it.**


	6. Chapter 6

I woke up early, when the sun came over the horizon and touched my skin and the slight breeze caressed my face. The air was fresh (as well as a little bit chilly) and I actually felt relaxed and well rested. I sat for a moment, looking out at the gardens in their back yard before I watered my flowers. It was December 17th. Christmas was coming but I was terrified and somewhat angry with my Uncle Reilly. I was terrified because I knew the killer hadn't been caught yet, and I was angry with my Uncle Reilly because I had asked to come live with him after he had dropped my things off.

He told me that his girlfriend (I hadn't met her yet) was a hoarder. Apparently he was going to get her help because he really cares about her, but his house wasn't healthy for me to live in. He doesn't know how long it will take for her to get help though; I just hope it's soon. As soon as I turned around to get dressed for the day, I swear I could have wet myself (not really). Fang was standing there, just staring at me.

"What?" I asked, getting annoyed.

"Nothing." Then he just turned away and left. Already by my bedroom door, I ran up to him, still in my oversized T-shirt.

"_What?_ Why were you intruding if you had nothing to say to me?" He had paused with his hand on the doorknob.

"I'm the first one up; at our house, we're supposed to wake everyone else up." He turned the doorknob and slammed the door behind him. _Yeah, that's why you were just staring at me,_ I thought. I pushed that thought from my head and changed into my jeans, a green shirt, and my checkered Vans. I brushed through my hair a few times and then headed downstairs. I was the last one down and everyone was waiting on me to eat breakfast.

"Good morning Max," Shelly chimed, "I'm glad you could join us for breakfast." I nodded once and sat down in the seat I had had for dinner. Once again, the plates were arranged on the table like a buffet and they started being passed around. When the fruit got to me, I took three pieces of honeydew so I wouldn't look rude. Everyone else had waffles, bacon, fruit, and toast.

"Max, sweetie, aren't you hungry?"

"I'm never really hungry at breakfast." Lies.

"Well, alright. It would make me feel better if you had some toast though." She held the basket of toast out to me.

"Um, okay." I took one slice out and set it on my plate.

"Oh my God Max! I'm so exited to go shopping with you today! We're gonna get you some cute skirts and some frilly shirts and sparkly hair clips! Oh and then we can go to the makeup store and get you some lip gloss! Do you like lip gloss? 'Cause I _love_ lip gloss, especially the kind that smell good! And I have a question. Do you like pink? 'Cause I could _totally_ see you wearing pink! We're gonna have to get you a bathing suit too! Maybe a bikini? I don't know yet, you're just gonna have to try stuff on. Maybe I can get some stuff too. Is that okay Shelly?" Bet you can't guess who said _that_! I sat there staring at Nudge, _horrified_, at what she had said. _Skirts? Frills? Lip gloss? Pink? Bikini?_ Those were the only words I heard and I almost threw up. No one looked surprised at how much Nudge talked. I looked around and saw Fang smiling to himself, poking his fruit around. He probably saw my look of disgust.

"Sure Nudge, you can get stuff. Just not too much."

"Yes! I'm gonna get that one really cute shirt that was at Forever 21! Do you guys remember? It had the one shoulder thing with the -" Iggy and Gazzy's hands covered her mouth, and I enjoyed a split second of silence before they removed their hands and she apologized.

"Max and Fang," Shelly started, "could you guys clean up? I have a few things to do before we leave."

"Sure." We both answered.** (Read author's note!)**

So once everyone was done eating, Fang and I cleared the dishes off the table and brought them to the kitchen where we rinsed them in the sink.

"So, uh, I saw your reaction to what Nudge was saying." One side of his mouth twisted upward. I rolled my eyes and started scrubbing the syrup off one of the plates harder than necessary. "What? You don't like pink frills?"

"Hell no." I set my dish into the dish washer and started on the next one.

"I didn't _think_ you were in to that stuff." He claimed. "You seem like a jeans and T-shirt kind of person."

"I have a feeling that you're saying that 'cause that's what I'm wearing."

"And _you,_" he pointed a fork at me, "would be right."

"You're a dork." And I wasn't exactly lying.

"A tip from the dork; when Nudge finally gets you to the swimwear, don't try it on in front of Iggy. Just saying."

"Wait . . . I thought she was kidding about the bikini! It's the middle of December!"

"You'd be surprised what the mall has." And with that, he closed up the dishwasher and left.

**Okay, so short chapter, I know. I need to mention to you guys that they own _60 _acres. I realized that I had typed 6 and then I remembered that my 0 was stuck. So, yeah. Also, my author's notes are usually important and have to do with the story. I don't do any of that talking-with-the-character stuff but I am going to start doing a song of the day. Look it up on youtube if you want. It's just to show you guys the music I like and if you like it too, then you have new music! So I hope you enjoyed this chapter (even if only a little bit) and please review! Thanks! **

**The song of the day is "Dog Days are Over" by Florence + the Machine**


	7. Chapter 7

Fang was right . . . unfortunately. I _was_ surprised at what the mall had. They had stuff for this season; coats, jeans, thicker socks, but they also had stuff for the summer which, as horrifying as it is, included bikinis. Shelly took me to get the things I actually needed and then let Nudge take and torture me. Iggy and Gazzy went off on their own to look at the new action games, Shelly took Angel to look at the Build-a-Bears, and Fang went off on his own to meet up with his girlfriend.

Anyway, the first place Nudge took me was the MAC make-up store. We ended getting a free makeover thing for me to help show how to use the make-up that we bought. We had gotten like 18 different shades of eye shadow, three different blushes, eight lip glosses, and some mascara. Then we went to Forever 21 to get the shirt that Nudge wanted and she insisted I got some things. So I did. I bought some plain shirts, just with some patterns with stripes and I bought a cute jacket. Nudge handed me a shirt, while I was in the dressing room, to try on. It was a silkier material, had some draping near the top, and was one-shoulder. The only thing she got right was that it was purple. I bought it just to make her shut up. Well, we went to a few more stores including Windsor, Charlotte Russe, and Pacsun. The last place we went to was a bathing suit store. I tried on many bikinis, to my displeasure, and some of the bathing suits that were full in the front and open in the back. Nudge made me get a few of each before we met back up with everyone else in the food court. Well, minus Fang.

As everyone was about to grab their trays, Gazzy blurted out "Did you know that they never wash these trays? They have as many germs as a gas station's bathroom's toilet." We all threw our trays back down, shared some germ-x, and we carried our food by hand after we ordered. Fang showed up a few minutes later with a red-haired girl who I was guessing would be his girlfriend. She was actually quite pretty. They got their food and joined us for lunch/dinner. I don't know what to call it; it was about 3:30. She sat down in front of me and introduced herself as Lissa. I took her hand.

"Hi Lissa, I'm Max." So she was polite too.

"Yeah. I heard about you on the news. I'm so sorry about your parents."

"It's fine."

Our conversation carried on throughout the entire meal. We talked about bands we liked, places we used to live, what our parents do (or _did_ do in my case). Eventually, Shelly had to split up our conversation so we could head home.

We had a "fashion show", Nudge and Angel's idea of course. I was just gonna sit and watch them, but Angel talked me into doing it with them. So we tried on our clothes and I felt bad for the guys, the looked bored to tears, even Fang (Mr. "No emotion"). I finished trying on my clothes for everybody, not including swimwear.

"Alright, I guess I'll go get ready for bed then." I thought I was off the hook before Nudge yelled, "Wait Max! What about the bathing suits."

Well as you can imagine, Iggy's attitude perked up a bit. That perv.

"_Fine_." I grumbled. "But only in front of the _females_." I made a look at Iggy that said _get your butt out of that chair and make it go to your room. _He sighed and got up with Fang to leave. So I tried on my bathing suits for the girls before heading to bed. Shelly had told me that she signed me up for the private school everyone else goes to. I had to pick up my uniforms tomorrow at the main office. I hate the idea of wearing uniforms (especially since the girls had to wear skirts) but luckily, they only had to wear them on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

**Anonymous POV**

I watched her as she sat down in the food court with her "family". She was talking with another girl and laughing. I thought about doing it now but there were too many people around. I would have to wait a bit to do it properly. I had been watching the news about her; they still didn't know who the killer was so she must not have told the police about his appearance. They started to get up and I looked away, taking occasional glances at her. I had to take care of her before she told the police. She saw me kill her parents and now I had to take her out of the equation.

**Hey guys, sorry for another short chapter, it as going to be in the same chapter as the last one but I was rushing. So here's the second part of chapter 6. I hope you like my try-to-be cliff hanger. I'll try to update as soon as possible but I don't know when that'll be 'cause I have quite a bit of schoolwork to do. Anyay, I hope you enjoyed this short little bit. Please review. **

**Song of the day: Rolling In the Deep by Adele**


	8. Chapter 8

Getting ready for school was pretty nice. At the orphanage, the bathrooms were overly crowded with people trying to take showers and by the time I would be able to get in, out, and dressed to head to the cafeteria, there would be nowhere left to sit and I'd have to sit in the entertainment room with some others. But here, at Shelly's, after I got dressed and headed downstairs, breakfast was already on the table. I smiled to myself before sitting down with Fang, Iggy, and Nudge. Apparently, after Shelly made breakfast she went upstairs to get herself ready and Gazzy and Angel didn't have school until eight while we had school start at 7:20.

We ate breakfast in silence, which was amazing to me that Nudge could keep her mouth shut. On the way to school, Iggy told me that that's the only time she's quiet because she's still waking up. Fang and Iggy had their own cars (really nice ones at that) and apparently can't ride with one another to school; I'm guessing it's a guy thing where they're not really thinking about it, but they feel the need to show off their fancy cars. So Fang took Nudge and Iggy offered to take me since neither of us could deal with the motor mouth.

"So you don't have a car?"

"Well, I _did_, but apparently they found a partial fingerprint from my parents' killer so they took it as evidence and they keep looking over everything again and again." I told him.

"They just wanna be sure they don't miss anything." He reassures me. "I mean, this is the biggest case that's happened in the past few years. Don't you want the killer to be caught?"

"Yeah, I guess so." I mutter.

"What, you don't want them to catch him?"

"I _do_, I just . . . I don't know. I just keep hoping this is all just a really long horrible nightmare and that I'll wake up soon but if they catch him, I'll just have to face the fact that my parents really are dead." Iggy just nodded his head and said nothing else. Despite him being a pervert, he was pretty cool. He was a good listener and knew when to back off.

Once at school, Iggy and Fang came with me to get my schedule. Luckily, I had every class with at least one person I knew. I had first with Iggy, second with Lissa, third with Lissa and Fang, fourth with Nudge, fifth with Fang and Iggy, sixth with Iggy, and seventh with Lissa. I would come back to the office after school to get my uniform.

As Iggy and I walked to first period, he told me about the Research teacher Ms. Applewood.

"She's a total nightmare Max. She'll mark off if you write the period before the date, if you leave one letter out of a word, or if you write your last name underneath your first name. There's also no talking, you have to face forward at all times, and she reads the chapters from our "textbook" in monotone."

"What _is_ research anyway?" I ask.

"It's stupid. We take notes on how to take notes, we give presentations on how to present, and we take tests on test anxiety. The last one was pretty fun."

"How so?"

"Well," he began, "since I'm a brilliant genius, I brought the test up to her and told her I had test anxiety so I couldn't take the test. She didn't believe me so I let the fake tears come out. She finally gave in and gave me an A."

"Iggy! That's horrible!" He just shrugged before we both started laughing. When we turned the corner, I saw her classroom. No color, at all. Everything was white, except for the ground which was cream linoleum. Since I was the new kid, I was seated wherever someone who was absent sat. Today, that was over one row and one seat in front of Iggy. He didn't lie about her, she _was_ a nightmare. I started to doze off with my head resting on my hand. Iggy leaned over and shook my shoulder which caused my hand to slip and my forehead to hit the desk. People throughout the entire room jumped at the noise, and I turned to see Iggy with his hand pulled back and a sheepish smile on his face. Even though he hadn't meant to do it, I still glared at him.

The bell _finally_ rang after what felt like years of torture and boredom, and I escaped to Biology. I saw Lissa and she waved me over to sit next to her.

"Doesn't someone sit here?" She laughed.

"No. Mrs. Hanes isn't strict about seats, as long as we pay attention." I looked around before sliding into the seat. The class went by quickly as we took notes. Mrs. Hanes would make jokes, answer questions, and anyone could tell that this class was way more engaged in the lesson than in Ms. Applewood's. Lissa and I talked all the way down to Mrs. Underlood's classroom for English.

". . . and he knew exactly what I wanted! So I was trying to think of what he would've wanted for _his_ birthday, and I finally remembered him saying that he likes handmade things for sentimental reasons. So I made him a music box in woodshop that plays our song."

"When was his birthday?" I asked.

"December 12th."

"That was the day before Shelly adopted me!" I realized.

"Yeah, I guess it was."

We walked into the English classroom where I was seated across from Lissa and Fang in an empty row. They sat next to each other and I realized that when Fang was with her, he actually showed emotion. I smiled for the both of them before class started. Mrs. Underlood made me introduce myself to the class, which I didn't think was necessary, before starting the lesson. Apparently, they had taken the final quiz of Romeo and Juliet on Friday. Now, we would be given a monologue at random to remember and act out when we got back from Christmas break which started at the end of this week. Mrs. Underlood had typed out the name of the monologue's, as well as who it was by, and threw them in a large plastic bowl. She called us up one by one to pick someone from the bowl. Fang picked "I drink to thee" by Juliet. He sighed and sat down. Lissa was hoping for Friar Lawrence and she got her wish. Exited, she sat down next to Fang and began reading her monologue. As others went up to get their parts, I couldn't help but plead for Juliet in my mind. I saw a boy with blond hair and sea colored eyes get up and he grabbed "but soft", by Romeo, out of the hat. A few more people were left. The last person before me was a girl with brown hair and glasses who grabbed another Friar Lawrence speech. When it was finally my turn, I reached in and grabbed one of the few pieces that were left. _Juliet!_ I wanted to scream. _I got Juliet!_ It was the "the mask of night is on my face" speech. I was just glad that I didn't have to play a man.

I went to fourth period alone and met up with Nudge in the locker room. I wasn't a big fan of PE but only because I didn't like dressing out. Nudge let me borrow some of her PE clothes, since I hadn't gotten any yet, and they fit fine since they were big on her. We ran the track while all of the other girls walked and gossiped. We played a bit of tennis before we were called back in. We were released for lunch and we met up with everyone else. It was a pretty big group. There was Fang, Lissa, Iggy, Iggy's friend who I recognized as the boy from English who got Romeo, Nudge, Nudge's friend who introduced herself as Ella, and myself. So . . . seven people total. It wasn't as big as some of the other groups, but it was still bigger from my group of three people at the other school.

Lunch was nice, and entertaining since I was sitting next to Iggy, and quite a few times I would catch his blue-eyed friend staring at me. Before the end of lunch, I was able to catch Iggy saying his name: Dylan.

**Okay, so there's the new chapter. I know it kind of dragged on about the teachers, but I want you to know their personalities. All of the teachers are based off my teachers. The whole monologue thing was given to us as well so wish me luck! I'm so scared. So I hope you enjoyed it and I'll try to get up another one soon. Review! Oh yeah! There's one more thing! The cover of the next volume of the Maximum Ride manga is up on yenpress so go check it out!**

**Song of the day: Stupid by Sarah McLachlan**


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